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 Spectrum Design’s grand opening/ribbon- cutting ceremony was held in April 2021. Attendees included several NY officials, such as Governor Kathy Hochul and former Governor David Paterson.
Bardsley — who are challenging these assumptions. “Companies, corporations, and social enterprises are starting to open their eyes a little more to hav- ing a neurodiverse workforce for myriad reasons,” explains Deborah Novick, Westchester County’s di- rector for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “It’s not just about diversity, equity, and inclusion. There’s a business case to be made, as well.”
Firsthand experience
Few people know this better than Bardsley. Spectrum Designs and its sister organizations, Spectrum Bakes and Spectrum Suds, sell apparel, gourmet baked goods, and boutique laundry services while boasting a staff whose majority is neurodiverse.
“We’re a collection of social enterprise business- es,” Bardsley explains, “and they all have the same mission: creating employment for individuals on the autism spectrum.” In total, the initiatives have pro- vided over 80,000 hours of work and wages, exceed- ing $1 million.
Bardsley’s Spectrum enterprises were started out of personal necessity to help address the hir- ing obstacles that autistic individuals encounter. Bardsley and his two cofounders are the parents of children on the autism spectrum. When they launched Spectrum Designs, in 2011, their children were teenagers, and the lack of career pathways was quickly becoming apparent.
“The unemployment rate is so high for adults on the spectrum,” Bardsley says. But rather than sit by,
discouraged, Bardsley and his partners got creative. “We said that if finding employment is going to be hard, then let’s create it.”
What started as an experiment has since trans- formed into a trustworthy brand. While Spectrum Designs began in a backyard barn, it now boasts more than 70 employees. Clients include interna- tional corporations, like Google and Uber; instant- ly recognizable names, like Metro-North Railroad and Special Olympics New York; and smaller local businesses that dot Westchester and Long Island. “We’re very honored by people saying, ‘Let’s give these guys a chance,’” Bardsley says.
Yet Bardsley insists that Spectrum’s success isn’t due to charity. “Customers give us that first chance because they want to support us, but then they come back because we’re delivering on time and on budget. We provide a service or a product that peo- ple want and need at a competitive price and with high quality,” he says.
Indeed, clients have come to rely on Spectrum for everything from customized shirts, bags, and blankets to delectable granola and chocolate- dipped pretzels to reliable laundry service.
All of this debunks the misconceptions about hiring neurodivergent employees. Says Bardsley: “We have a really high retention rate; we have seen successful growth over the years; we’ve got loyal, dedicated people here; and our quality control is re- ally, really high.”
At Chewma, Pasquina has had the same expe-
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPECTRUM DESIGNS
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